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After they defeated Jericho, Joshua sent some men to Ai.[a] Ai was near Beth Aven, east of Bethel. He told them, “Go to Ai and look for weaknesses in that area.” So the men went to spy on that land.

Later, the men came back to Joshua. They said, “Ai is a weak area. We will not need all of our people to defeat them. Send 2000 or 3000 men to fight there. There is no need to use the whole army. There are only a few men there to fight against us.”

4-5 So about 3000 men went to Ai, but the people of Ai killed about 36 men of Israel. And the Israelites ran away. The people of Ai chased them from the city gates all the way to the quarries.[b] The people of Ai beat them badly.

When the people from Israel saw this, they became very frightened and lost their courage.

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 7:2 Ai The name of this town means “the ruins.”
  2. Joshua 7:4 quarries Places where people cut stones from the solid rock.

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